Almost half (49%) of working adults have changed their retirement plans because of the cost-of-living crisis, according to new research by the Pensions Management Institute (PMI).

Some 24% plan to delay their retirement while 23% have reduced their pension contributions.

Meanwhile one in twenty respondents (5%) admitted to stopping their pension contributions entirely.

Two-thirds of those surveyed felt that they did not have the knowledge required to choose their pension provider despite nearly 60% showing some interest in being able to choose their own provider. 

That is relevant to the government’s recent lifetime provider (pot for life) proposals and shows the importance of improving financial and pension education throughout society before implementing such a radical change, the PMI said.

Savers also value retirement benefits in the form of an income stream rather than a cash sum.

Some 58% planned to take retirement benefits totally or mainly as an income with just 25% interested in taking their pension savings totally or mainly as cash.

Meanwhile 81% of respondents valued a retirement income that would be guaranteed for life, with two-thirds attracted to an income that kept pace with price inflation.

Tim Box, PMI council member, said: “With only 30% of our respondents believing that the state pension will be more than half of their retirement income, the role of private pension provision to fill the gap is critically important.”

He said that if the state pension age is raised to 71, as has been recently speculated, then private pension savings are likely to be the only source of income between stopping work and the start of the state pension for a huge swathe of those born after 1970.

Mr Box said: “It is vital that the Government ensures that savers are given appropriate support and education to save for retirement in an era when it is likely that state pension benefits will only become available in an individual’s eighth decade.”

• Survey data based on nationally representative Censuswide poll of 2,030 employed people with pensions, aged 18+ on behalf of the PMI. Survey completed in February 2024.